


You Need Oxygen To Start A Fire

by gemini_in_tauro



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Divergence, F/M, Hopeful Ending, Legend of Korra Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-09-02 03:06:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16778362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gemini_in_tauro/pseuds/gemini_in_tauro
Summary: "Shouldn’t we like—I don’t know man, swear eternal friendship or something?" Just after the Harmonic Convergence, after Peter gained airbending powers, Johnny dissapears. Sue comes to ask for his help—he is quite knowledgeable with the spirits after all, and he is faced with a hard decision to do: Go after his best friend and first crush, or dominate the airbending with Tenzin and the new airbenders?





	You Need Oxygen To Start A Fire

**Author's Note:**

> It's actually very hard for me to believe the publishing date has already come. It has been so hectic for me, and lately I hadn't that much peg for writting. I actually feel the end was kinda rushed. So yeah, there's that. It's a hopeful ending for a reason, I guess.
> 
> I saw season three so long ago, and it's so obvious in so many ways, I almost slipped in a part or two, and I had to rewrite an entire scene and not publish one I had written because I had totally forgot it was planned. Anyways, I shouldn't babble too much, so I'll cut it for now.

Peter Parker considered himself quite average, if he was honest with whomever asked him. He was truly an average boy. Brown-haired, middle height, quite scrawny, and had a—thankfully—normalcy in his life, he liked to think.

I mean, yeah, he kind of had a thing for spirits, but it isn’t like he went out to look for them. When one lives in Republic City for years, one learns the spirits aren’t precisely attracted to its populace, regardless of their connection with Peter.

Perhaps he could see spirits, but nothing out of the ordinary. He wasn’t anything at all like his parents, who had been prominent engineers at Future Industries before the accident in one of the industries. He wasn’t anything at all like his Aunt and Uncle, people that, even through their own responsibilities took him under their wing and raised him as though he were their own.

Even still, he was just your average boy. Perhaps he had good grades at the elementary school they had there at Republic City (a privilege, he sometimes reminded himself, that the family he had left at the Earth Kingdom didn’t possess) and the teachers seemed to like him enough, but that was barely important.

He was a lonely boy, he was lucky if he even talked to anyone at all. Perhaps it was that what made him get closer to the spirits in the first place.

Peter knew nobody but himself was able to see them. He once told his uncle about them, and he himself said that the spirits were wise creatures; that maybe they sensed that Peter was special and they choose to remain close to him, and, when the time was right, they would help him in his crusade (whatever that word meant).

His words brought a great relief in the childish mind he possessed. Of course that didn’t change the fact that he was still a lonely boy, even if having the spirits as company seems pleasant at first. The other kids his age never understood. They knew only what was apparent: he was unnatural. No, he wasn’t a bender, but he had this aura surrounding him kids were keen to avoid.

It was all of that why he was surprised when the new neighbour approached him and tried to enter a conversation with him.

“Don’t you feel… repelled by me?” he asked unsure, after the new kid—he said his name was Johnny Storm—introduced himself and asked a few little too personal questions to Peter. Johnny seemed wounded by the lack of response at first, but then shrugged it off and continued talking to him.

“Well, you look nice enough.” And if that wasn’t the less founded answer he’s ever received, Peter pretended it had common sense and talked in a manner polite enough. The spirits didn’t seem to mind Johnny’s presence, so he followed their example and introduced himself properly.

“My name is Peter Parker.”

They started talking about many things. Johnny talked about his previous life at the Fire Nation and how he came to Republic City to accompany his sister, his closest family that was old enough to take care of him. Peter asked what had happened to his parents, and Johnny told him about how they had died.

“Mine did too.”

It was something so personal to discuss with him, and yet he seemed at ease with this new boy. He almost forgot about the spirits he was talking with, not even sparing them a few glances between the three full hours they both spent talking. Had it always been this easy talking with people? Or was it just that Johnny was amiable enough for the spirits to accept him? One of the few that remained, one of a deep red came close to Johnny and stared at him before rubbing against him. Obviously Johnny was unable to notice this, but Peter couldn’t stifle a laugh.

“What’s so funny, huh? Do I have something on my face?” Peter of course tried to shake the thing away. But, apparently, Johnny wasn’t so keen to let him run away from the topic at hand and insists.

Peter tries to come with something, anything, to escape the questioning.

“Are you, by any chance, a firebender?”

I mean, Chi, the red spirit that got close to Johnny, told him he was a spirit of fire. It would only be logical if he were to approach one with the power to wield the element he was so akin.

Apparently, that is a question that freezes Johnny enough to forget about his previous questioning. And that is all Peter needs to apologize.

“I mean, you said you used to live in the Fire Nation. I was… curious, and stuff.”

Internally, he is afraid to scare the first amiable acquaintance he has made for the first time in his life. He is afraid now Johnny might find him odd, but then again, he just guessed if he was or not a bender, not anything from the other world—he tried his best to ignore the spirits whilst thinking about this—he could think of. If he were embarrassed of being a bender, he never would have said he came from the Fire Nation.

But then, what if he just picked the wrong thing to say and he wasn’t a bender, and wished to be with all his might? Then he would have to apologize and god if he wasn’t bad at apologizing.

He felt panic rise in his throat and his breathing became unsteady. He didn’t like the feeling. What if he had offended Johnny and Johnny and him were never friendly again?

(A part of him thought his fear for losing Johnny was stupid. He barely knew the kid, and he was already used to people not noticing him. Why would he even care?)

Against his biggest fear, Johnny was just slightly perplexed. Confused. Why would he ask that out of nowhere?

“I—yeah. As a matter of fact, I am. How did you know?” He tried to smile despite his surprised demeanor, something that lightens the insides of Peter and undoes the knot that was threatening the words to come out of his mouth. He breathes with relief, and laughs a nervous giggle. The spirits seem relieved as well, but perhaps not for the same reasons he was (they may thought that this kid would damage Peter, or something along the lines, but even if he and Johnny weren’t to be friends, Peter was sure Chi would follow Johnny everywhere from today onwards).

And then he tries to think of an answer that could satisfy Johnny but still help him keep his secret.

“Well, what can I tell you? I—”

“Johnny? Where are you, Johnny?”

A woman approaches walking cautiously, apparently looking for the acquaintance Peter is talking to. The other boy seems uncomfortable to be interrupted in such a crucial moment of the conversation, but tells Peter they talk later—after all, they’re neighbours—and he hopes this time Peter will tell him his secret.

“Gotta go. Sue will sue me for sure.”

Peter is tense enough he finds the pun funny, and laughs a lighthearted giggle. That response seems to satisfy Johnny, who walks away and meets his sister.

Peter is back to observe, amused, the shenanigans the spirits do in the human world; and he wonders: how is it that nobody but him is able to see them?

* * *

The next time he sees Johnny is, surprisingly enough, that same night.

Aunt May greets both Storms into their house and is immediately supported by Uncle Ben, who stands from his seat at the table and compels Peter to do something similar.

“Welcome to Republic City. We, the Parkers, welcome you to our humble house, and hope you like May’s cooking.”

Peter has the decency to look sheepish and even blush. He greeted them with a barely whispered “welcome” and proceeded to walk through the dining room. Johnny sat by his side and Susan went to greet and thank both Parkers for the invitation to dinner with them.

“Didn’t know we’d see each other today.”

It sounds tentative, like Johnny was unsure of how to start a conversation. Funny, Peter thought, considering that only a few hours ago he was on a about, unable to stop blabbering about the simplest of things.

Perhaps it had something to do with nervousness, and first impressions, he supposed. But as always, Peter could never be sure.

“Me neither” was the best he could come up as an answer. And before any of them can think of another awkward topic of conversation, the other three adults sit around them and serve the food.

Susan Storm looks friendly enough, Peter thinks, she seems so calm and in control of herself. Oh, and the spirits surround her like she is some kind of spirit fruit. He shakes the thought away, and shyly asks if she does some kind of spiritual training.

“Well, I spent three years and a half training in the Northern Water Tribe.” She answers, seemingly trying hard to remember exactly how much she was away. “I think I went away when I was somewhere around seventeen years old… and when I wasn’t training or helping the tribe out, I was meditating. It helped me improvise quickly, so you could say that.”

“Then you know waterbending?”

Uncle Ben sended him a warning look about not being too nosy, he knew this was kind of personal, but if Peter was honest with himself, he was actually quite curious. Also, Susan didn’t seem to mind, and her word was supposed to be the last.

“Yeah?” She answered, unsure of where the conversation was going to. Peter frowned, and bit his lip, trying to actually say what he wanted to.

“And you used to live in the Fire Nation. How… how was it?”

Even if the thing with Fire Lord Ozai was over since some sixty years ago, he was aware (from the few trips he was able to hear about his parents made to some places before their demise) that waterbenders weren’t treated precisely with silver trays.

Miss Storm wrinkled her nose, like she was trying to avoid offending his intelligence—most adults did that whenever Peter asked something uncomfortable, which was the reason he almost never asked questions—with a rude answer.

“It was… it wasn’t as bad as one might think. Perhaps it was because of the position father had in the government, or maybe because I didn’t show that much about my bending with people, so it was pretty tranquil,” Peter nodded, hearing this like it was the most interesting story he’s ever heard—and perhaps it was. “When I turned seventeen my powers were out of control, so father decided to ship me off to the Northern Water Tribe. You could say I needed to reconnect with the spiritual side of the bending to understand and manage to control my powers better.”

She wore in her face the adult equivalent of a sheepish smile, and Peter smiled brightly at her, feeling halfway sorry for making her reveal so many personal things her first day in Republic City. He decided to pay her trust with the same coin.

“Well, it seems you truly have reconnected with your spiritual side. They all are surrounding you.” He stated in a such matter-of-factly fashion so out of character in him, and started eating his rice. Susan, of course, stared at him, confused.

“Who? The spirits?” She asked, finally connecting the dots his statements made.

“Yes. Waterbenders seem to appease them, but they don’t orbit as much with the standar waterbender as they do with you. They… they like traditions, and how connected a person is with the element they were born in.”

Seeing Susan Storm’s dumbfounded expression, Uncle Ben—luckily—decided to intervene. “Peter, he… he has a special connection with the spirit world. He is able to see spirits, and they seem to like him so.”

Susan seemed less confused, but more curious. And to prove this she offered a motherly smile, one that said that she found all of this amusing. “Is that so?”

Peter, knowing that the woman was finally feeling calm around him (the first impression he always seeked to do on people) just nodded. “I don’t have any bending ability, but they come to me, anyways. It’s… it’s one of the weirdest things I heard, but I came across it and now my life is… normal.”

He wasn’t truly sure if ‘normal’ was a word supposed to describe him, but then again, all of this—the talking with the spirits part—was somehow a bit of normalcy in his life. It was a routine. Also, you could always bend the definition of normal to fit your wishes.

Susan seemed thoughtful for a whole minute, and then nodded with her head, as if in understanding. “Yeah, in my whole life I haven’t heard of a person able to connect with the spiritual world like you seem to do. You are pretty unusual, but in the good sense of the word.”

Nobody apart from his aunt and uncle (and perhaps a few acquaintances he’s had) tried to reassure him before. He felt how his stomach complied about this, how it started to ache. He tried to ignore it, because all this was a good sensation and he wanted to enjoy it.

“Thank you, miss.”

“Please, just call me Sue.”

Then the adults started to talk about little things in their daily life, something that gave Peter the opportunity to look at Johnny, who stood still, his gaze glued at his plate of sweet and sour pork, which he didn’t as much as give a halfhearted munch.

This reaction from the other kid apparently made Peter less secure about his ability, for Johnny didn’t try another conversation with him.

Peter was scared that he had made Johnny uncomfortable, that he wouldn’t want to be friends with him like he already tried to. All of this was so new to him, he was so out of his depths and he hadn’t an idea of how to react or how to answer, so he thought he did wrong by trying to reassure him… somehow.

He looked at his own plate of rice, and sighed. This friends thing was so hard, harder than he ever considered before.

* * *

Peter thought that, given what happened in dinner last night and how his luck actually was, Johnny would not be on speaking terms with him, something that, even if he was used to by this point—honestly, who wouldn’t?—he was, somehow, dreading with such an enthusiasm he never imagined he possessed.

Susan must have seen the fright in his eyes when Johnny didn’t as much as utter a word throughout the whole ordeal as well as in his eventual depart, for she smiled sweetly at him and assured Johnny was hard to scare away.

“But I didn’t tell him about Chi already loving him. He must think I hate him or something for not telling him before.”

Talking with adults always seemed easier to Peter. And it seemed even easier with sweet and kind and oh-so-spiritual Susan Storm.

“Chi is one of the spirits that follow you around?” Sue asked.

“Yeah, he is akin to fire, so now he follows Johnny all around.” And it was always easier to trust adults. Specially adults that the spirits trusted in.

Sue nodded in understanding and proceeded to tell him that no, Johnny was hardly someone that hated, so they would see each other the next day, when Johnny attended school with him.

Even after Sue’s words (it felt so weird, calling her Sue when his subconscious thought, no, screamed ‘Miss Storm’ in capital letters) he wasn’t reassured. And Peter’s mind jumped to the only logical conclusion.

Johnny definitively hated him.

“My name is Johnny Storm. I come from the Fire Nation. I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Peter almost misses Johnny’s introduction to the classroom, but definitely didn’t lose the moment when he decided the empty seat besides Peter was his.

“It’s good to finally come to a Republic City elementary school. I hope what they say about its prestige is true.” he whispered conspiratorially in Peter’s ear, earning a relieved sigh from Peter and a shy nod.

Well, it looks like Sue was right, and Johnny would be forgiving him.

They sat together at break and Johnny started asking questions about the spirits.

“D’you reckon you’re the Avatar?” asked Johnny, after so much thinking. He gulped down the meat he was munching. “I mean, I heard father once say that the avatar was good with the spirits and had a pretty good connection with the spirit wor—oh! Have you tried entering the spirit world?”

Peter shook his head to answer all his questions. He stared at his rice portion and sighed.

“The Avatar must be from a Water Tribe, at least that’s what the cycle supposes, and as far as I know, my family all came from the Earth Kingdom. And as for what the spirit world concerns… well, I would like to avoid entering this world as possible as I can.”

“But whyyyyyyy? It’s so cool!”

Peter stared then at the turtleducks the pond in the school possessed.

“I have only met kind spirits, what would happen if I enter in the wrong spot and I stumble with a nasty spirit? It takes only so much concentration to enter the spirit world, imagine getting out.”

It didn’t seem enough to stop Johnny’s questions about the spirits, but to Peter’s relief, he stopped insisting on him to visit the spirit world.

So much for being normal.

* * *

It was Johnny’s presence that made people aware of the existence of one Peter Parker. Apparently, they needed someone around him to attempt and take another step, to get close to him they needed to see another person orbiting around him.

Even with the help of the spirits, it still didn’t make sense for Peter, but he wasn’t about to complain, not with he had Johnny, Harry and Mary Jane hanging out with him now. The spirits seemed to approve of them, or at least didn’t attack any of them, so Peter counted that as a plus, and pretended it all was routine to him.

It was a particular day in which neither of them had classes (something about it being the Avatar Aang’s death day) and decided they could explore a little.

“This place is supposed to be a secret, but the Spirits trust you so much I guess I can let you in this little secret,” answered Peter when Johnny asked where were they going. They went so many turns—twice right, thrice left, and somewhere in north—for what seemed like an hour and half. Johnny was starting to wonder if the spirits were trying to mess with him, and if Peter knew this too, and was as well playing a trick on him. But then they finally reached it. It was a cascade of sorts.

“What is this place?”

Peter tried to look nonchalant, even if the spirits were as hyperactive as him. Gosh, this was the first time he brought a human friend to this place, how could he be calm? “This was once a place where benders of all elements gathered and shared knowledge about their bending techniques.” His eyes were clouded with what Johnny could only guess where memories (possible memories) of his past visitations to this place. “I found it once by accident, but Chi told me all he was able to about it. He can, sometimes, see memories of places, and show them to me afterwards”

He tapped at a rock, and despite how little light came from the cascade it had become duller compared to the iridescent rocks now illuminating a path he didn’t notice in the absence of light. Johnny would have outright accused him of being an earthbender were it not because he never saw him doing any special movements to prove this theory.

Peter seemed to notice his surprise, because he looked at him and smiled as sweet as possible. “There are so many secrets about this place that even I, as a non-bender, am capable of react. Tapping certain rocks will light the way to the center of the cave. Follow me.”

And Johnny, as awestruck as he was about the most impresionant display of non-bending abilities he had ever seen, nodded almost curtly and followed him slowly, stepping where Peter stepped on, touching what Peter touched.

“Here we are,” Peter finally announced upon their arrival at what at first sight seemed to be a manantial. “I wanted to show you this, come, take a look.”

As he approached the manantial, Johnny noticed it had something swimming in the inside. Taking a closer look, there were two almost identical fishes swimming inside, chasing one another. Frowning, he noticed they actually reminded him of something he had once been told about. Finally, he stared at his friend, who was obviously anxious as to what he had to say. “Are those… like the ones there is at the…?”

Peter nodded more quickly than Johnny was able to follow. “Yep. The Northern Water Tribe. Incredible, isn’t it? I have yet to discover how they can survive in this place, or whose bending they sustain, but itself, they are unique… in lack of a better word.”

Johnny stared at them. “Just imagine what Sue would say about them. She’d be ecstatic.” as an afterthought, he added, “thanks for bringing me to this place, Pete.”

He wasn’t entirely able to see the way the cheeks of Peter tinged of pink. “It was… it was really the only way I could prove you how much of a best friend I consider you, really.”

Johnny didn’t know how to answer to that kind of confession. His eyes went blurry, and out of the blue, he hugged his friend like there was no tomorrow.

“You’re my best friend too, you know!”

* * *

It wasn’t unusual for the school to led the kids to trips to factories. Peter was used to be the last in the group, so it was decidedly a new experience when he was somewhere in the middle, with hype-would-you-look-at-that-machine-it’s-so-cool Johnny. They had talked so little about their little trip to the caves, as though it actually never happened. And Peter might have done so just fine, but gods if it hadn’t taken so much courage out of him.

(Note to self: perhaps I could tell Sue about them? I’m pretty sure Johnny did mention about his sister enjoying it.)

This time it was, unsurprisingly, to the factorie in which Peter’s parents used to work. It wasn’t a novelty, not really, since it was one of the few who admitted kids in certain areas to motivate them to follow them, but it never stopped being painful to enter the installations. He tried to be as impassive as possible, but be as it might, there were still things that reminded him of them.

“Is everything okay?” Asked Johnny, minutes into realising something wasn’t cool with Peter, who was unusually quiet—he was already quiet, yes, but not this much. The brunette shrugged his response, something Johnny took as a ‘I’ll tell you later’ kind of message. Or, that’s what he wanted to think of this.

Minutes passed by, and the teachers left them to the care of the workers in the factory. Johnny, coming from the Fire Nation, was unused to the school leading the kids to trips of this kind, so he was baffled. It didn’t take him long to encounter Sue, who volunteer to guide his group when she heard he was going to her work-place (fortunately, not in her workstation, that would be infinitely dangerous). She waved affectionately at all the eight-year-olds. “Hello you all, my name is Susan Storm. As you guessed, I work here, at Future Industries. Do any of you know what we work with here?” Immediately, Johnny’s hand along with Peter’s and three of their schoolmates’ raised. Sue shook her head. “Someone that isn’t that blondie hurricane… hmm… what about you, miss…?” she asked upon seeing a blond girl with a baby blue ribbon.

“Gwen Stacy” she answered the unasked question. Sue quickly nodded.

“Yes, of course. Tell me, miss Stacy, what do you think—or know, that we work with in Future Industries?”

The girl puffed her cheeks, suddenly realising that she had no idea what her answer actually was. “Well… dad mentions a lot the vehicles you create… he’s a policeman, so he needs to chase wrongdoers quickly. He says they are wonderful. How fast they are, and how they help innovate our world. He mentioned something about things called planes…?”

Sue nodded eagerly. “Yes, yes. That’s quite what we work in here: the future of Republic City.” She let the children giggle as they realised the pun she had purposely let in her wording. “We have some of the best minds working here, we investigate from physics to mechanics, and believe me when I say that we have nothing but the best. Our technology, as miss Stacy already stated, is used by the police force we have in the city.”

One of the children there raised his hand, and Sue let him speak. “Yes?”

“Do you help design planes like the one that was in the front?”

Sue seemed a little taken aback with the question. “Oh, no, sweetheart. I help with another projects the company has, but none related to how the planes work.” She tried not to sound uncomfortable, and Peter tried to concentrate in her and not in the plethora of spirits already lining around her as though she were—and it wouldn’t surprise how many times he’s repeated this phrase to himself—some spirit fruit. But she was incredibly spiritual, and they <i> _knew </i> _perfectly fine that much.

“Now follow me, kids, we will be showing you some of our best inventions, as well as one or two unfinished but already tested projects. What do you think, kids?” As the children chorused over her, apparently, innovative idea, she laughed and waved her hand in a way that suggested they should follow her if they really wanted to see them.

Peter tried to keep in the end of the line, just as he had intended when they announced they would go to Future Industries for a school trip. It’s not that he didn’t enjoy its many inventions, he actually had a conversation or two with people who used to work with both his parents, but it was better to look at the backs of his schoolmates than the workers of the company and their many unfinished projects—that, unlike his parents’, they were getting finished.

* * *

The visit wasn’t pleasant for Johnny either. It was not, however, for the same reasons Peter’s was.

“I can’t believe Sue! I swear to god she was gushing over him like he was the last cheetahbear in the world.”

Oh yes, not only was he fuming about how she would not acknowledge the whole day that they both were siblings and pretended he didn't even exist, but she had left them to one of her co-workers (who at least acknowledged Johnny as a human being) when Reed Richards, one of the Future Industries’ most renowned scienfics, arrived.

“Don't be ridiculous, Johnny. He's her immediate boss, not her childhood crush.”

Johnny was apparently more incenses at Peter's words. “And how would you know about that?”

Peter started petting a flying bunny that got close to him, and shrugged. “Well, if you bothered to listen to her when she talks about mister Richards instead of working on your brocon-propulsed plans, you'd know.”

Johnny huffed, and Peter smiled to himself, as though he were the winner.

Minutes passed by, and the blonde kept staring at him, curiosity drilling his mere soul. Peter pretended to _still_ be petting the spirit bunny (which had already left to wonder behind a monkey), even if it was not truly something easy for him to do.

“Say,” started his friend, not exactly sure on how to start asking him about what he wanted to ask. “About the factory, you… you were uneasy. Like it brought you bad memories. Did it? Was it… did your parents work there?”

There, he said it. It was such a hard thing to say, despite being as orphaned as Peter was. It was, perhaps, one of those kind of situation in which it was awkward—almost taboo—to speak the words aloud. And Johnny, despite being only an eight-year-old, was able to catch on this.

Peter just stared at his own hands. Silence befell them both. It was only after aunt May called for Peter to enter the house.

“They were working on a plane design. It crashed.”

It was such an intimate thing, but, unlike the cave, Johnny was not happy to know about it. He wasn't sad nor pitying him either, per se, but his gut wretched in such a way he wished there was a way to erase the knowledge from his mind.

If only wishing for it were so simple.

* * *

Despite Peter's reassurance, Johnny wasn't so sure about his sister's relationship with Reed Richards being completely platonic, and this was further proven in his birthday.

“What do you think he's doing here?” He asked to nowhere, in a futile attempt to lead a one-sided conversation with Chi. Peter said the spirit followed him everywhere, so that basically said someone _would be_ listening his monologue. However reluctantly it was. “I mean, yes, he _is_ Sue's immediate boss, but to attend my birthday party? Are they close or something?”

“Chi says they seem close, but that it is not you to decide whether your sister dates someone or not.”

Johnny glared at him. “You sometimes sound older than me. Like, three or four years older. And hey, I am the one turning nine today.”

Peter rolled his eyes. “And sometimes you speak like you have any right upon your sister's life.”

Johnny shrugged. “I want to have time with her. She went away from me when I was a mere toddler, what was I to do?”

Peter sat besides him. He didn't say it aloud, instead, incentivized him to continue throughout glances here and glances there.

“I am afraid that Sue will abandon me, like mom did. That the first man to attempt to get close to her will get it and then he'll take her away from me.”

Peter stood silent for a few seconds. “Well, legally speaking, she's your tutor now, so they cannot strange you.”

A few seconds of more silence, and then Johnny was laughing rather loudly. “You're nine years old, Johnny, not fifteen nor twenty. You're a kid, and if it bothers you that much, don't think of mister Richards as the would-be boyfriend of Sue, more like an older friend of yours.”

He took a sip from the beverage Sue has prepared for him and sighed. “You make it sound easy.”

“A kid's life should be easy.”

They started laughing, and after some minutes of silence Peter spoke. “Have you been practicing your firebending? Perchance it might be you're irritated due to your inactivity.”

Johnny shook his head. “Don't be ridiculous, Pete, you know perfectly well… that it might, in fact, be the reason of my stress. That's right. Perhaps if I train a little and spend energy I will be freshened. You're a genius, Peter Parked, I couldn't love you less!”

Said genius rolled his eyes. “Yes, whatever. Just remember that you're nine, nowhere near capable toaster your bending. Or tell me, what is your best shot at firebending?”

Johnny scratched his cheek sheepishly. “I am able to create small sparks in my hands, as well being able to control a hand-sized fireball.” upon realising Peter wasn't, in fact, mocking at his lack of progress in his _supposedly element_ , he shrugged. “You know, firebenders are told to be prodigies. Most of us can have such a great control of our powers at ages somewhere between ten and fifteen.”

Peter stare at Johnny's leg, and he supposed he was having a profound conversation with Chi. “Well, most of them are said to. But what age do you think Iroh, the passed uncle of Fire Lord Zuko was able to control his powers at?”

“I'm… not really sure about this. Maybe fifteen? Seventeen?”

His brunette friend seemed almost impaciente at his lack of—what must be—common knowledge for any Fire Nation kid.

(If it weren't for his ability to speak with spirits, Johnny would wonder how did he gather so much information about Fire Nation seeing as he was anything but a Fire Nation citizen.)

At this, Peter finally seemed to realise he had made him wait. “Twenty six, Johnny.”

The blonde's jaw was almost upon the floor. “You're kidding.”

“Nope, he is as serious as you can get, blonde hurricane.”

It wasn't until the words were spoken that he noticed his sister had arrived besides him. He stared incredulous at her. So then was it true.

“But—no way! You saw how good of an strategist and how at peace with his element he was,” he stammered, and gosh was she smiling like he was making a fool of himself (he was, most certainly, making a fool of himself, but he didn't need Sue to do it for him). “Normal people cannot do that, Sue!”

Sue shrugged at him. “Well, as far as I know, he was barely capable of controlling flames at your age, so don’t worry darling if you cannot.” Johnny pouted, but didn’t try to argue with her. “Are you both having fun? I know dad didn’t organise you parties this dull, but I had barely time to plan it.”

The birthday boy shook his head. “I have Peter to make me company, so it isn’t really that boring.”

Sue looked almost glad he said those words, but Peter could never be sure. “I know I have been a little distant lately, I was caught in a most recent project, and we need to perfect it before we let the other people in the company know about it.”

Yet again, Peter tried to concentrate in Sue. And most of the time he was capable of listening her without problems, but this time all the spirits that usually floated around him were nodding their agreement, and gosh he was curious now as to what that top secret project she talked about entitled.

“It’s okay, really,” Johnny assured her, mostly because it made his sister a little less worried about him, and another part of it was because he tried to look older, mature. Peter guessed it was what normal birthday children did, but he could never be sure about that much. He never had felt like he needed to be seen as an adult. Yet again, Johnny was true, and he sometimes acted like someone more mature than he actually was.

“Well, if you say so,” relented Sue, then she glanced at Peter. “And what about you? Are you having fun too? Or are you just humouring this little monster because he asked you.”

Peter sheepishly scratched his cheek. “I am perfectly fine, and I’m humouring Johnny, but not because he asked me to, believe me.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear,” she smiled at them both and ruffled Johnny’s hair. “Well, I got to go to get the cake. Please don’t drink too much of this” she gestured to Johnny’s new beverage, “please, Peter, I leave him at the care of your capable hands. I know it’s tasty, but too much will make you want to pee.”

Just seconds after she exited, Johnny rolled his eyes, suck his tongue—in _such_ a mature fashion—and took a sip from it. Peter had to resist the urge to laugh at his antics. This was probably the first birthday party he ever attended of another kid (or even so, the first proper birthday party he ever attended _as a kid_ ), but he was having the time of his life, especially since Chi was imitating Johnny’s huff in such a satirical way (and if Johnny's _what's so funny_ screech didn't have him rolling in the floor uncontrollably, it would definitely be Chi's imitation of Johnny's every movement.)

He was having fun. He was, truthfully, in a state of bliss.

* * *

Because he was the one to suggest it, Johnny only saw fitting that it should be Peter who overview his firebending training.

He was reluctant—

“Johnny, you're doing it wrong.”

—and yet, _somehow_ , between Johnny and the spirits he was convinced of doing it.

“Argh!”

And, truthfully, Johnny thought it a good idea at first.

“You need to breathe more _deeply_. With superficial inhaling and exhaling, your body gains nothing. Your _chi_ cannot be canalised with such superficial breathing. Fire comes from breathing.”

Johnny threw his hands in front of him in exasperation. Peter wasn't gazed by this. It was the fourth time this evening he did that.

“I'm _trying_ , really.”

“Yeah, sure.” Peter couldn't help to deadpan. He shook his head, concentrating. “It's only _breathing_ , Johnny. Not performing an arabesque.”

Johnny's head shoot up in curiosity. “What's an arabesque?”

“A dancing movement I will not be teaching you, so don't try to persuade me.” He added before Johnny could even think about asking him. His blonde friend sighed in discomfort.

“I wasn't going to, anyway.” _Because I have already with you trying to teach me firebending and look where it's leading me_ was left unsaid. He let himself fall with a loud thump to the floor, deciding a rest was due.

“I suspect you enjoy bossing me around.”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Peter smirked before sitting—more gracefully than the firebender. “But I don't enjoy spending so much time listening to the spirits, literally, telling me your technique is wrong. Neither seeing you wallow in despair because you're not archiving anything with that.”

Johnny's brows furrowed in a self-reproach fashion. He _knew_ Peter was right, and he had been, after all, the one that insisted Peter coach him. He _shouldn't_ be pitying himself, he should be following every single instruction he was given.

“Ok, I get it. I need to get my act together.”

Peter glanced worriedly at him. “Has something happened that I'm not aware of?”

Johnny shook his head. “Besides of me wrongly believing that firebending is about agresiveness and short-temperance? No, nothing of importance.” He sighed as he rose. “All my life I was taught that firebending meant power. My father was a nonbender, and upon hearing he had not only one, but two benders in his family, he was ecstatic. It almost reminded me of what the history books say about Fire Lord Ozai.” His hand clenched into fists, but weren't as tight so his knuckles should whiten. “He wasn't precisely tyrannic, but he was rather strict with both of us. You heard Sue. She was sent to the Northern Water Tribe when she was _seventeen_ because she needed to control her powers better, because they had grown way too much for her age.” he gulped, as though reliving the memories pained him. “An instructor was to see me three days a week to train. You know, as other kids learn to play an instrument I learnt to do katas with little to no results—the instructor hardly believed father when he assured him I was a bender.”

Peter stood silent. This was the first time Johnny talked about this topic, he was usually so cherry he would never have guessed such a thing troubled him.

“I didn't feel sad at his funeral,” he admitted finally, his eyes clouded with a memory Peter was not able to comprehend. “Or, I wasn't as sad as I should have felt, but my point stands. I was… I always felt like firebenders were entitled to be great and reckless and calculating and just as short-tempered as one could get. But you are telling me otherwise—that I should keep calm and control my breathing, that my temperance should be barely something and that I shouldn’t be impulsive nor short-tempered—and I feel so confused by all the oxymorons.”

The brunette stood and put a comforting hand in his shoulder, pretending it to be seen as a friendly gesture. “Johnny, fire is an element of temperance. Your emotions reflect on your bending. It's normal to feel irked up, you cannot control it. No matter how you try, fire is unpredictable. I'm here to not let it burn you too much, not to stop it.” He hugged him, and Johnny unconsciously wrapped his arms around one of Pete's, “if you don't identify your emotions, your bending can be used against you and sooner or later it might end up killing you. Did you ever heard of how avatar Yangchen died?”

Johnny tried to remember. The name sounded awfully familiar but he couldn't put a face to it. “Cannot even remember them.”

“Avatar Yangchen was from the Air nomads. She used her firebending in a situation she shouldn't have. She tried to control herself, but she realized it too late.”

Peter started to walk towards the cascade that usually hid the cave they both had taken a liking to go, and Johnny took that as his cue to follow him as quickly as possible.

“She was a fierce Avatar, I think all the history books are clear with that,” he stepped in the cave and waited for Johnny to follow. His brows were furrowed, and he was clearly trying to put his thoughts into words. “Her motto was that anything should be done if it meant protecting mankind. And she risked her life several times over her life, even the one that ended it.”

Peter then spun around to face Johnny, who still seemed to not get what he was saying. “I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense. And when I suggested firebending to relieve your stress the spirits did seem to take it as a good idea, too. But then they told me all this stuff about what happened to her and—I think… I think it’s only rational to wait a little until you feel better. What do you say about incorporate a few airbending techniques with your firebending training? Do you believe it might help you?”

Johnny thought about it. The logical answer would be _how in the world do you know airbending techniques_ but then he should have asked first _how in the world do you know firebending techniques to teach me_ and before that it should be _how do you know so many things about ancient times._ Despite the year and a half of friendship they had gathered, it was somewhat a concept hard to grasp on—the whole _oh my Agni Peter can see spirits_ (and should that be possible in the first place? Had they not their own world? Were they able to travel to their world?) part—and he caught himself off guard with questions such as that. He knew he should have gotten used to this by this point, then why didn’t he?

“Uh… yeah, let’s do that. Let’s—let’s do that. Sure.”

* * *

When Peter turned ten Sue asked aunt May and uncle Ben if she could take him and Johnny on a trip to the Northern Water Tribe. They had been relent to let their nephew, but not because they didn’t trust her (she had proven herself on those two and a half years of being her neighbour), but they were afraid something would happen to Peter outside Republic City.

It was only after two days of insistence, and they had put a few rules, that Peter was finally able to travel to a place Sue had so many cherished memories. The travel by ship was about three or four days per travel, so Peter and Johnny had lots of time to practice his firebending training (which, fortunately, had started to do wonders with the airbending techniques, and he was now capable of producing more than little sparks with his hands, so that was wonderful).

“What about this kata?” asked Johnny as he took an offensive position and threw his hands in the air at random, “is it possible to apply it with firebending?” He did it a few more times before Peter laughed at his antics. Confused, he asked “what’s so funny?”

“That’s not even a technique, Johnny. It’s just being childish,” answered Sue besides Peter, her undivided attention to a book in her lap. The blonde boy suck his tongue out, but she didn’t seem fazed by this, which kind of frustrated her brother. “Perhaps you could integrate it into a game, but that might never get to be a firebending technique.”

“It’ll be one day!” replied Johnny childishly. “Or it might have been a technique a loooooong time ago, right Peter?”

Petter shrugged his answer. “I don’t know how long you mean, Johnny. Spirits aren’t _that_ old, or at least not the ones I communicate with.” This gained him a glare from Johnny, who was apparently serious about making that—whatever _that_ was—a kata for firebending. “There has never been such a thing before, but you know, you could always make it. Even if it creates unstable flames, you might feel proud of yourself—somewhere, in the future, because you did your own.” He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to encourage Johnny, but who was he to deny him? “It might even be worth it.” That last sentence came out kind of lame, but Johnny’s pout was impossible to fix with words, and it was a worrying matter for Peter.

Contrary to Peter’s original thought, his words actually calmed somewhat Johnny, because he threw a self-sufficient smirk at his sister, who was still engrossed in her book to paid him any mind. “See, Sue? You should be supportive, something like Peter.”

“Well, you have him. I’m not supposed to encourage ideas that might harm you in the near future. I’m supposed to take care of you.”

Johnny pouted, but didn’t further comment on this. And neither had the time, for the ship's movements stopped out of the blue. Curiousity getting the best of him, Peter got out of the room and stared at the deck, noticing there was no land to—well, land on. Sue walked behind him, and seemed to notice his reluctance, for she gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze. “Water benders don’t let ships near their tribe, not especially since the things that happened when Avatar Aang was here. That’s why we have to waterbend our way to the tribe.”

Peter seemed curious about this. “You’ll waterbend us there?”

Sue smiled at him reassuringly. “Yes, naturally. Did you think I didn’t have anything planned?”

Peter wanted to argue something, but had no idea how to say anything that wouldn’t hurt her feelings. Would it sound bad to say he actually hadn’t thought about this possibility? That he wasn’t actually dreaming of ever entering the Northern Water Tribe?

“No, it’s not that,” he said, finally, his thoughts an unrecognizable mess. He frowned, visibly troubled. “But I never thought of how the waterbenders might react. How it might have been the aftermath of the 100 years war for them. The waterbending tribes are the ones I think less time of, and it’s not that spirits akin to waterbenders don’t come near me, because they do, but—I don’t know, I don’t feel that much of a connection with water as I do with other elements—no offence!”

Sue grimaced, then shook her head. “None taken, darling. See—you are your own person. You have a special connection with the spirits no one has seen before, but because you have a way to gain knowledge nobody might ever get, it doesn’t mean you have to be interested in all of it,” she waterbended some water, and crystallized it into what was barely recognized as a flying bison. Peter cracked a smile, cupping the small piece between both his hands as she continued. “You’re not the avatar, and you don’t have to worry about that kind of things. You’re just a kid. You’re supposed to have fun with other kids, enjoy child games—live. I have no way to thank you so much for all you have done to him,” even if the conversation had taken another route, they both knew who she talked about, “believe me. When I was first put to take care of him after father passed away, he was a stranger from the cheery kid I once knew. But you brought him back, with your patience and your friendship—and even helped him with his firebending along the way!”

Peter felt a swell of pride forming in his chest as she said those words. Yes, he was proud of how Johnny has improved in his firebending—it proved how much of a good instructor Peter was (how good at helping people he could _be_ ) and it made Johnny happy to not be stuck on the same place, so Peter was happy too. But to hear from his sister's mouth, to hear her thank him, it was so endearing he had no words to describe it.

“Don't worry about this. I—I get it. But I really have done nothing special to Johnny.”

He left _actually, it was him who helped me_ out of his voice on purpose, he knew Sue would try to argue, and he didn't feel like arguing. Behind both of them, Johnny appeared. “So,” he said, not being able to notice a deep conversation between both his best friend and his older sister was due, and Peter had to suppress a laugh at how oblivious he was. “What are we waiting for?”

“Unfortunately I cannot take you farther than this,” noted Reed, coming out of the captain's cabin (who, unlike Johnny, was able to read the mood and was, _apparently_ , waiting for the moment in which he could actually step in without interrupting. Against Johnny’s whishes, Peter was starting to like the guy). “There are rules between the Northern Water Tribe and outsiders. I hope you know a secret entrance or something, because this is my best.”

“Yes, thank you so much for this, mister Richards. Believe it or not, you have done us a great favour.” Thanked Sue, and Johnny almost grimaced had it not been for a subtle tug from Peter.

“Nothing I wouldn't do for a co-worker,” Reed said. “Do you have in mind a date to go back so I come pick you or you can come on your own?”

She shrugged. “We might stay two or three days, but I'm not sure of an exact date, nor hour. Anyways, it was more than nice from you to get us here, I wouldn’t want to trouble you with another travel to the north pole.”

“And I insist, this is nothing I wouldn’t do for a co-worker. It wouldn’t trouble me at all to come pick you all up at some hour.”

Sue shook her head. “There’s no need, really. Getting in is the hard part. Getting out is a piece of cake. I’ll see you at the workstation next week at the same hour.”

Reed nodded once again, and didn't say anything (just for the sake of the drama, according to Johnny). “Thanks for bringing us, mister Richards” said Peter before Johnny could snark up a (not so witty) remark.

“It was my pleasure, mister Parker.”

Saying Sue's waterbending was awesome was an understatement, but it wasn't enough to describe it. Perhaps it was because Peter barely saw waterbenders waterbend, but there was _something_ in Sue's Tai chi-like movements that indicated they were different from the ones he was used to see in Republic City.

Then again, this was the Northern Water Tribe. The place where the first waterbenders were born. This was where Sue learnt to waterbend, and this must mean they had the same spirituality hers had.

Sue had waterbended something that resembled a canoe, and before he knew they stood before a huge water wall. Sue was having a hard time getting the wall to bend, but eventually she was able to bend it and allow them passage. “They have two waterbenders protecting the entrance at all times, so it's hard to figure where the entrance is. One learns to… feel it, somehow. It's hard to explain,” she said awkwardly. Peter merely nodded, understanding.

As they entered the Tribe, they noticed all of their constructions were made of ice. Peter knew this because _logically_ they liked to live in tundra-like places—the more water, the better. He didn't know how they looked like, however.

“This is all so pretty,” he couldn't help but whisper to himself. She nodded her agreement. She must have fallen in love with this place with her three and a half years of training, Peter thought as he engulfed the sight.

“Yes, it is. Oh! Hokka, over here!” She gestured for a man that was walking in the… sideways? How did they call them—Peter was really sure these weren't streets.

“Hey, Sue! Long time no see.” Once he was closer, Peter noticed he used a big fur coat—it practically covered his whole body. He looked at himself for a few seconds, wondering whether or not his body would be able to hold a coat such as that. He shook his head.

“Yeah, it's been really long since the last time indeed.” Sue quickly shook her head. “How have things been since I last was here?”

“Not much has changed, I think.” He positioned his hand under his chin, deep in thought. “Unless an engagement between Chen Li and Mia So counts?”

Sue's eyes grew big. “Are they really? That's wonderful!” She shook her head once more. “Let me introduce you. Hokka, this is my little brother, Johnny, whom I talked to you about, and this brunette here is Peter—a friend of Johnny's.”

“My best friend,” Johnny declared proudly. Peter's cheeks tinged with pink just as Sue's voice filled with laughter.

“Yes, he is,” she conceded. “Guys, this is Hokka. His father used to overview my waterbending when I lived here.”

“And wasn't she a wonderful student” muttered Hokka, as though he were lost in his memories. He gestured for them not to take this personal, and concentrated in the matters at hand. “So, did you bring them to be introduced?”

“In a sort of vacation, yes.”

Peter didn't hear any more conversation. His eyes filled with amazement at how many spirits could be conglomerated inside such a little space. It was as though _this_ were the spirit world—something that left him slightly unnerved. Could a place such as this be the spirit world? He knew waterbenders attracted a lot of spirits to them, ever since airbenders existed only in a little family in Republic City—a.k.a. Avatar Aang’s family—and so many firebenders and earthbenders knew little to nothing about the spirits surrounding them, but this was beyond his expectations. And to say he was expecting a whole stack of new spirits was an understatement.

As though something possessed him, he reached outside the canoe, stepped onto solid ground and trailed after one of the spirits that knew he could see them. He didn't know where it was leading, but before he knew he was entering a cave of sorts, and slowly he made his way through it.

It was only after he spotted a pond of sorts he knew where he had been led—this was the original lake from which the manantial in Republic City emulated its appearance. Yes, even the _Ying and Yang_ like fishes were there, circling each other.

“Peter, I told you not to—!” Sue could be heard through a tunnel behind him, almost scandalized at the thought that Peter was the one running around instead of her little hyperactive brother, but she stopped short as she entered the place and caught her breath. “What… oh, my Agni.”

“Huh, most people don't know of this pond,” wondered aloud Hakko as he entered behind Sue. He didn't seem surprised about the existence of the pond itself, but rather that someone even knew how to get to it that wasn't… well, from the _inside_. “However did you do it?”

Peter found himself flushing profoundly as he tried to formulate something coherent. How many waterbenders could be let into the secret? He let Sue know about it because there was _something_ about her that attracted spirits, but just as he had said when he first met her, the average waterbenders didn't attract as much. How could he explain himself, how could he explain himself?

He gazed at the pond, and barely touching the surface a albino girl floated. He was able to recognize her easily thanks to his history books—thank the government for teaching ‘recent’ history too.

“The… Moon guided me,” he explained rather uncertainly. Sue caught easily what he was trying to say, as well as the just-arrived Johnny, but Hokka, who was left behind didn't.

“It's okay, Peter, you can trust him,” said gently Sue as she nodded him in encouragement. He sighed and stared at the floor in front of him.

“I… can see spirits. Some of them are humans that passed away, and some are wandering spirits that accidentally left the spirit world and wounded up near me.” He finally answered, a little bashful. “I don't know which one guided me here, but—but I ended here.”

Hokka seemed surprised at first, but he smiled reassuringly at him. “Is that so? Well, one does not face people like you everyday, you might be the avatar for all we know!”

Before he could say that no, he wasn't the avatar, the young man started to laugh. Peter didn't know wether this was a good sign or a bad sign. Sue winked at him, so it must be the first option.

* * *

Having a few restful days at the Northern Water Tribe was the most incredible experience Peter ever had—though, most of it was due to the fact that it was a first.

And even if Peter didn’t intend for it to happen, somehow at least half of the waterbenders in the tribe ended up knowing about his ability. Fortunately for him, the swore not to tell a soul about this, and as the spirits seemed to trust they would keep their promise, so he ended not being bothered at all by this.

And thanks to this, they let him stay in the waterbending trainings for the two following days, even if he wasn’t a waterbender himself. He saw them do some fantastic movements, and he saw them just learning a few healing techniques with waterbending (it was apparently something that was taught ever since Katara was here, Peter learnt) they might need if they ever cross fire with someone.

(Perhaps more literally than figuratively.)

(And wow, wasn’t the war over? Why train so hard, as though they were preparing themselves for yet another battle?)

Once their little trip to the Northern Water Tribe was over, Sue had waterbend yet another canoe and flowed them faster than the last travel. They ended arriving to their destiny in less than a day, which, in all honesty, Peter was thankful of. Just imagine two more days of swaying in the sea, he would eventually throw up.

* * *

When Johnny turned twelve, Reed Richards finally moved out of the labs from Future Industries and invited Sue—who he believed to have wonderful wits—to be part of a new company he had in mind.

Oh, and they were officially dating.

Surprisingly enough, Johnny wasn’t fuming, as he would have done years ago. Peter didn’t know whether to be proud of his friend—not attempting to murder his sister’s boyfriend _should_ be the first step, right?—or worrying his ass off about it.

He decided, that as long as he didn't kill anyone, everything, _anything_ was good.

He had become more disciplined with his firebending, too. He was nowhere to be perfect, but he could now control certain movements without burning his own hands; which, believe it or not, was really an improvement itself.

“You know, I’m thirsty.” He announced after one of their trainings near the manantial. They both had been training for what felt like three hours in a row. They usually didn’t train this much in a normal day, but their bodies had been growing lately and they had to eat a lot and they _needed_ to get rid of so many good energy by training.

“Hey, I think we finally learnt how to communicate with that spirit sense of yours.” They started laughing and they both walked towards the manantial. Not too long ago, Johnny had started to revisit the possibility that Peter's ability with the spirit world was a shadowing to a new kind of bending, as to what Peter replied should be impossible, given how he knew of people—long dead people, according to Johnny—that, when they were alive, could see the spirits as well as he did.

“Probably.”

And he called it _spirit sense_. Like it was something he could find in other people. How nuts must one become to put on such a lame name?

Peter took an amphora he had brought earlier in the day, but had eventually left behind since it had no more water inside, and let it drown. As it was somewhat full, he took a sip from it, feeling the water flow down through his neck. “Hey, Pete.”

Peter raised his eyebrow. “Yes?”

“Have you ever wondered if these fishes ever stop circling after each other?”

Peter stared at the fishes Johnny was talking about. He originally thought they just circled each other because they resemble the ones in the Northern Water Tribe, like they were from some kind of mirror, but when he saw the pond there, he _knew_ they were not the same. They kind of looked the same, but they were not forced to chase incessantly. Then again, neither were the other ones in the Northern Water Tribe, they just… chose to.

“I’m not sure. Perhaps they do really care about the other that much?” He had never thought about that much. He knew—suspected, more like—that it had something to do with equilibrium… but besides that? Barely nothing.

“Do you think we care enough for each other as these fishes do?” asked Johnny out of the blue, taking a sip from Peter’s anfora. His brunette friend arched a brow, clearly surprised at the sudden question.

“I don’t know. Should we?”

Johnny seemed irked that Peter wasn’t attempting to take the conversation as seriously as he was, but it wasn’t truly as it was his fault. The firebending without the fire part was hard for Peter (granted, he was just imitating the katas from the way the spirits told him to, but even so it was exhausting to do these many moves when as a kid he could barely run some meters before realising he shouldn’t have done that because _oh for the sake of science, I think I ripped a muscle_ ) and it tired him to no end. He was already amazed at how much Johnny was able to do, even spending more energy just by using firebending. So, while he seemed nonplussed at Johnny’s comment, he was, in reality, metatired.

“I’m talking serious.”

“Me too. But I don’t know why should it matter.”

Johnny pouted in that cute way he had stopped doing once he realised it wasn’t a boyish thing to do.

“Well, for starters, we have known each other for about five years.”

“Yes, we have.”

_“Peter.”_

_“Johnny.”_

His blonde friend huffed, but continued on anyways. “Whatever. Shouldn’t we like—I don’t know man, swear eternal friendship or something? I believe that’s what best friends our age do.”

Peter threw him a ‘oh, do they?’ glance.

“—I think.” He corrected himself.

“But well, I don’t really think it’s necessary to do such an oath. Have I not proven already how much our friendship means to me?” Johnny stared at him, as if the thought just occurred to him.

His cheeks reddened and he seemed repentantly at a loss of words. Peter smirked and with one of his fingers he tapped Johnny’s nose. “I love you too, flamebrain.”

* * *

Even if Peter didn’t like to admit it, Peter liked Pro-bending as much as Johnny did. Most of the time they went to watch them because MJ participated, but other times they went just because Peter wanted to see them.

“C’mon, MJ, beat them!” Both Johnny and Peter screamed in unison, as the match unfolded. In the end her team won thanks to a firebending movement at last minute she had—fortunately—learned last week.

After the match, the three of them had in mind going out for a dinner at a noodles’ restaurant near the stadium they all liked to go from time to time. Johnny and MJ started talking about how much work it had taken her to win the match.

“The other team was cheating, but since there is no way to prove they did I had to do most of the job,” she said as she gulped on lots of noodles. Peter was amazed how she could talk coherently with her mouth full. “Speaking of doing all the job—Johnny, do you plan on entering the pro-bending? Agni knows we could use some help.”

Johnny shook his head. “I don’t get to practice my firebending that much,” Peter knew this was such a big lie, but didn’t try to talk him out of it. “Also, I prefer to watch you. You move like the ocean waves, ya know: smooth, and towards me.”

As tempted as MJ was to throw her noodle plate at the slob she had for friend, she was more hungry than she was mad at his friendly banter—also, it was just that, _friendly banter_. Peter watched at the both of them and shook his head, sipping on his soda.

“Oh, did you know? The avatar apparently came to Republic City.” Said MJ as she gave her empty plate to one of the waiters.

“Is she?” Asked Peter. He had known very little of the current avatar, despite having the spirits at his side (he barely knew she was being trained in the Southern Water Tribe and that it was a _she_ this time around). It probably had something to do with how much time he had spent these last ten years around Johnny that they didn’t tell him anything important anymore. “And how did you know?”

“Well, avatar Korra so happens to be on a pro-bending team.” At this, it seemed as though MJ was trying to swallow a sour lemon. “She had very good control of the pro-bending elements but—”

“Oh, let me guess!” stepped in Johnny, also finished with his noodles. “It was _using all_ the pro-bending elements she did wrong, was it not?”

MJ grimaced, Peter would have thought pitying the avatar was hard to achieve. “She had a match last week. She’s part of the Fire Ferrets. She’s their waterbenders, and it seemed as though she knew nothing at all about pro-bending.”

“Well, she spent all her years cloistered from the whole world, trained in secret by the White Lotus, somewhere in the Southern Water Tribe, she must know little to nothing about Republic City.” Added Peter, thinking of how much he remembered about the current avatar. “And I could perfectly understand it. Did you know someone tried to kidnap her when she was a kid?”

MJ was silent for a few seconds, analyzing his words. “I always wonder, how do you come by all the information?”

Peter shrugged, not quite ready to give it away. “Anyways, what is she doing here in Republic City? Despite its renown, I doubt she came here to sight-see.”

MJ followed his example and shrugged, standing from the stool she was sat on. “Whatever it is, it probably is related to Tenzin. You know, Avatar Aang’s airbender son.” She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Perhaps she wants to bond with her son from another life? One is never sure about certain things in life.”

As they exited the place, MJ bid them both farewell. “Well, I better go. With how much Harry frets about me, one could think he’s my boyfriend instead of my roomate. See ya’ later guys!”

* * *

He didn’t plan on getting so much information about the current avatar. He just asked a few citizens about how her pro-bending matches (two so far) had gone. He had received a mostly disappointing answer, saying how bad she was at the sport. Most of them were the same as MJ’s: good bending, bad follow of the rules.

After getting information of the most basic outline of her personality, he had also heard lots of humors he _really didn’t need_ to know. Some of them included something about a love triangle, but he wasn’t really sure who did they talk about—besides the avatar, that is.

“Anything interesting as of yet?” Asked Johnny as he sat besides him, sipping at a soda. Peter shrugged.

“Is there really?” He sighed, almost dejected. “No, most of what I heard is about either her bending ability or certain rumours that she might be dating… both her pro-bending partners?”

Johnny whistled. “Sweet. But that's not what you wanted to know, was it?” Peter shook his head in obvious dismay. “Anyways, what's so good about her?”

“Do you mean, besides her being the avatar?” Asked Peter playfully, raising a brow. “Are we truly discussing this?”

Johnny frowned, “s’ not that.” He defended himself, albeit not as confidently as one would expect him to since it was himself. “It's just… you know, never before had I seen you this worked up over the avatar. Yeah, you mention tidbits about the last three or four avatars thanks to the information the spirits you get along with tell you, but you never _actively_ looked out for information about them. It seems weird to me for you to be this interested in the avatar, seeing as you weren't before.”

Peter shrugged. “Guess it was because I used to think I wouldn't get to know the avatar, not personally at least. But now she's in Republic City and I can't help but wonder why. Do you not?”

His blonde friend rolled his eyes. “Not really, no. From the many things I've gathered, she looks rather plain to me. Not anything like I envisioned the avatar to be.”

“But you know it's not polite to talk about other people this way, and despite of her being an ordinary person, I'm still intrigued as to how she choose Republic City over the safety of Southern Water Tribe. Why so suddenly? Why when she could have finished her training in the Water Tribe and—” he suddenly stopped. Johnny was about to ask what was wrong with him when he snapped his fingers together. “That’s it! She cannot finish her training in the Water Tribe because the only other airbenders in the whole world are here!”

See? He didn’t even need Johnny’s help to figure it out. Still, he hugged him tightly and thanked him for his help, before running back to his room, leaving Johnny sitting awkwardly staring at Aunt May’s collection of china.

* * *

Saying “Sue Richards” was such a weird concept for Peter, who had always known her as Sue Storm, or just Sue. Johnny was doing no better besides him, he obviously was deciding whether or not he approved of this development, but he remained silent as the master of ceremony finished his speech, so Peter would ask him—somewhere, in the future.

But right now he would just enjoy the party, and how the spirits were congratulating the just wedded couple—in their own way—whirling around and doing shenanigans only Peter was capable to see and laugh about.

By the end of the party, Johnny had managed to convince Sue he was old enough to drink alcohol (but if Peter had something to say in the matter, seventeen was barely scratching the surface of maturity) and ended drinking three yellow wine glasses, something that left both Peter and Ben (a friend of Reed’s he had only known for two and a half years and found an akin soul within him—he also knew how to calm down Johnny) worrying their arses off.

In the end, nothing major happened. Or at least nothing to take notice. Peter was pretty sure Johnny had tried to tell him something, but he was talking so blurrily he told him he’d better remember this day because if it really was important for Peter to know then he could always say it later—if he wasn’t as drunk as Peter thought he was.

  
(And in the name of the spirits, he _was_ really drunk. With only three glasses.)

* * *

Johnny ended disregarding that moment, saying it really wasn’t important and that it probably had to do with how he liked the way Peter had done his hair and how he had always been there for him. When Peter asked Chi he insisted Johnny was saying the truth. Even if Peter knew they both were lying to him (or perhaps not lying to him, but certainly omitting truths), he decided it wasn’t worth it to discuss with them.

Just a few days after Sue and Reed’s wedding chaos had been displayed in Republic City with someone labelled Amon, who had the ability to take bending away from people. Sadly, MJ ended being one of his victims. Peter tried to comfort her with this, but she had been so shallow it was sad. Even Johnny felt useless about the situation.

In the end, avatar Korra was able to find a solution, and MJ got her bending back. She didn’t keep on pro-bending, though.

“Will she get better?” asked Johnny as he laid his head in Peter’s lap. The brunette arched a brow, seeing as how Johnny repentantly saw fitting to use his lap as a resting place. He decided to concentrate on the book he was reading, however, and pondered on the question.

“Well, what would you have done if he’d come from nowhere and taken away your firebending?”

Johnny shrugged. “It would have not mattered. Before we started training it, I was most sure I loathed firebending.” Despite the nonchalant way he had said it, Peter’s cheeks ended coloring. He coughed, clearly wanting to change the topic.

“Yeah, sure flamebrain.”

“I’m serious, man.” Johnny raised from his former position and _gosh his face was so close_ Peter was unable to concentrate on neither the book nor the conversation.

“Well, what do you think would have happened to me if I had suddenly lost my connection with the spirits? You know I would have broken down.” Johnny pouted, and despite his seventeen years it still looked like he was a child again. Peter laughed, placing aside his book.

“I would have helped you put yourself back together.”

“‘course you would’ve, Johnny. But it’s something so special to me, I’ve gotten used to live with it that it’s hard for me to envision my life without it. You get that much? It’s like any other sense. Like losing sight, or hearing—you suddenly feel at a loss.”

Johnny frowned even if he didn’t try to correct him. He, however, created distance between the both of them and pulled into himself. Peter raised a brow, curious, but Johnny was random like that.

* * *

“Hey, Peter. You noticed something weird going on with Johnny?”

Unless he wasn’t.

He was closing his locker when Dorrie had assaulted him with such a repentant question he couldn’t help but gape at her and wonder what _something weird going on with Johnny_ actually entailed, but no, he hadn’t noticed anything, and he couldn’t tell Dorrie that and _gosh wasn’t he supposed to be his best friend and notice these kind of things_ —if he didn’t notice it, then who could?

“Not anything specific, not really. Has something happened with you both?”

Well, perhaps Dorrie could, seeing as she was his current girlfriend. Not that Peter felt like sulking whenever he was reminded of this—he liked Dorrie well enough, he hadn’t a right to think bad about her.

She pursed her lips in great concentration. “Well, he’s been a little distant lately. Not in the sense that he could be cheating on me—hey, imagine how ridiculous Johnny cheating on someone actually sounds—but more like… he’s going through family troubles he doesn’t want to talk about. Has he not told you anything about them?”

Peter closed the locker behind him and started to walk towards his classes, shaking thoughtful his head, working on a way to bring the topic up to Johnny. “Not that I know of, no. Sue hasn’t told me anything, but she’s been a little busy with her personal projects it’s hard to grasp whether she’s actually conscious enough to hold a proper conversation or not.” He bit his lips, watching intensely at the spirits in front him, silently asking them if they knew anything.

“Well, thanks anyway. See you later, Pete.”

* * *

He tried talking with Chi when Johnny was taking a nap in his lap—yet again—but not even him would tell Peter anything at all. This was all getting so suspicious and _shouldn’t he had notice this before_.

Unconsciously, he started running his fingers through Johnny’s blonde hair, pondering if he should do something.

* * *

_‘Gotta go, Sue’s gonna sue me for sure.’_

The day after the Harmonic Convergence he dreamt of his first meeting with Johnny. He didn’t know why this held such importance to him—well, besides, you know, meeting Johnny—but rose and pretended he wasn’t still sleepy.

He should have noticed how the spirits were staring at him, he should have known something was unusual the moment he woke. Instead, he was feeling _reaaaaaaally_ tired and—wait.

It was the bowls. He had almost broke them but he had done something to stop their fall to the floor.

His eyes went wide with astonishment. This wasn’t really happening, he wasn’t actually—

In the name of the avatar. He was airbending.

“Pete?! Are you already awake?!” It was Johnny’s voice, entering from the front door. It was repentant and it disconcentrated Peter. He ended his—display?—of airbending as the bowls fell—fortunately, unbroken—to the floor. Upon entering, Johnny noticed the bowls in the floor and whistled. “Dude, what did I tell you? Aunt May bought a stool especifically so you can reach for bigger—Peter?” He was gathering the fallen bowls in his hands, but his demeanour showed confusion as Peter kept frozen in place.

“I—I—the bowls…” he stammered, unable to form coherent words. Johnny looked at Chi, now able to see him thanks to the Harmonic Convergence, with a raised brow, who quickly shrugged his answer.

“Uh, are you okay dude?”

Peter shook his head, face quickly paling. Johnny paled as well, seeing as something truly troubled his best friend. He left the bowls in the breakfast table and guided Peter through the living room until he was sat in the couch. He breathed in slowly, then breathed out, in such an exaggerated display that meant he wanted Peter to do the same. But thinking about air made him think about…

“Fuck.”

Johnny wasn’t fazed. “You always reprimand me for saying _goddamn_ but suddenly have the right to say _Fornication Under the Concern of the King_? That’s not fair, you know.” Peter shook his head, staring at his shaking hands.

Without really thinking about it, he formed an airball. Johnny almost jumped in his seat, completely taken back. “Fornication Under the Concern of the King, indeed! What in the name of Agni happened?”

Peter gaped, trying to say something, _anything_. “I—I don’t know. I just woke up like this.”

* * *

It was three days later they were training in their _special spot_ Johnny suggested he joined the new airbenders Tenzin was gathering.

“Well, I cannot say I don’t have previous airbending training—I had just the air part left. So if I leave, what will happen to you?”

Johnny munched the insides of his cheek. “I’ll be fine. Really. Dorrie was hoping we could visit her family—they live near Ba Sing Se. I’m more worried about you—you have never had bending powers before. Yes, you’re managing, but it’s not easy to learn how to bend an element—unlike avatar Aang, most benders cannot learn how to bend in a week. You told me this.” At this point Peter was obviously avoiding his gaze, but apparently Johnny wasn’t finished. “You need a real teacher, not spirits. No offence.” The last thing he said as an afterthought, watching at the various passive-aggressive answers he received from the other—now visible—expectators.

Peter shook his head. “I don’t want to live as airbender. I want to continue studying, to work with mister Richards and Sue, inventing things. This is not a life I want to have.”

“Will you try it for me? C’mon, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Didn’t you say you wished you had powers to help people?”

The former-non-bender-current-airbender smiled, melancholic. “I was a child, Johnny, with a _childish_ dream. I am not a child anymore. I know it’s not possible to do such a thing.”

“But is it?”

Peter wasn’t sure what had convinced him. It probably was Johnny’s smile, or Johnny’s insistence, or probably it was Johnny’s conviction that he could _be_ something more than Peter Parker. Probably it was the three of them, or probably it was none of them at all.

“Ok, fine. You win. I’ll do it.”

Or probably it was because it was Johnny who suggested it he did it. He had always had a soft spot for him.

* * *

It was such a different life to live at the Air Temple Island. There were indeed so many people waiting to be trained, Peter was hardly surprised seeing how rejoiced Tenzin was to have so many new pupils. It was like his birthday had come earlier this year. Or twice, seeing as it had been three months earlier.

Aunt May and Uncle Ben were currently traveling, but he had made sure to send them a message and let them know where he was going, and how he was going to be. Despite his initial insecurities, he actually found himself very comfortable between other airbenders.

However, he was feeling rather useless, seeing as he had nothing to study besides old scrolls or airbending techniques he had already learnt—but was still trying to grasp adding the airbending part.

“I see you’ve taken a liking to my father’s scrolls.”

Peter was taken aback from his studying to stare at Tenzin, who had, apparently, been there the whole time.

“I—I’m really sorry, I was just—but then this little buddy,” he talked about one of the many spirits he grew up with and wanted to come with him. “started wandering around and as I followed him I stumbled upon this place. He always ends up messing things up without other people knowing.”

Tenzin raised an eyebrow. He crossed his legs, his face was an unreadable mask. “So you’ve been acquainted your whole life?”

Peter smiled nervously. “In a way. It was one of the first amicable spirits I stumbled upon. It… it feels nice to be finally able to interact with them without pretending I’m not actually talking with them.”

Tenzin was obviously intrigued by him—how could he say those things, see spirits without them being in the spirit world—but he was considerate enough to not ask him anything at all.

“So this is how you have been able to read those?”

Peter nodded enthusiastically. “Chi—he used to hang around me a lot, but now he is usually around Johnny—says these are written in the same language the Spirit Library has most of its books, so he taught me to read it.”

Tenzin picked on his own beard, as in thought. “Most interesting. I had never thought such a thing would be possible. But well, here you are.” Peter tried to look sheepish, but he was actually feeling good with the praise. “As for me, I was never able to learn to read those. If you so desire, you could keep them.”

His eyes glittered at that. “Are you serious?”

“Yes, of course. I cannot read them, and despite my love for knowledge, this looks like something you enjoy more than I could ever appreciate.”

Peter looked at the scroll in his hands, pondering. “If you want to, I could translate them…?” he offered, but Tenzin shook his head.

“There is no such need.” He paused, as though he wanted to add something else. Peter waited, remembering he actually had seemed as though trying to break the ice with him. “There are so many airbenders now that we barely fit inside this island. I talked with my oldest daughter, Jinora, and she agreed with me that we needed to move to one of the Temples. We will be leaving this week.”

“Are we…?” he said, confused. Tenzin merely nodded, but before he could add something else, his other daughter, who Peter recognised as Ikki entered the room.

“Dad, dad! There’s a woman out there asking for you and another airbender!” she said so rapidly Peter had a hard time figuring out what she was saying. How did kids talk this fast at her age?

Tenzin frowned. “Did she tell you any names?”

Ikki shook her head energetically. Tenzin sighed, stood, and went after his daughter. Minutes later he came back accompanied by Sue. Confused, Peter stared at her, then at Tenzin.

“Sue? What are you—is everything alright?”

She was about to say something, but she burst into tears. Peter thought something definitely was wrong, so he rapidly went to hug her, being careful with how he touched her noticeably bulky stomach.

“It’s J-Johnny…” she hiccuped, and Peter’s blood turned cold.

He stared at her, but she was more concentrated trying to control her breathing. He gulped, trying to regain his composure. Sue needed him controlled, not broken and unable to help her. “What happened?”

She took a deep breath (she looked like she needed it) and then she released the air. “He’s… he’s gone.”

* * *

At first it had not settled into Peter’s mind what Sue had meant when she said those (damned) words. He had not been able to process it at all. Johnny was gone. _Gone._ His first thought had been to ask Dorrie, as Johnny had said he had planned to visit her relatives, but when they actually asked her she had denied every single word. From the existence of relatives of hers to ever planning said travel.

As he went back to the Air Temple Island he sighed in frustration. There was no sign of Johnny, neither was of Chi. He was growing anxious because _fucking shit_ , he should have noticed something was wrong with Johnny. He should have asked him what was wrong with him, if there was something he should know. He should have stayed instead of coming to learn airbending, he should have—

It was almost midnight, but be as it might, he was unable to sleep. For the first time in his whole life. He huffed, and went to read some scrolls. So his day could be productive, he actually started translating the easiest one: children stories he had thought were endearing.

_(Long time ago, even before the first firebenders were here—before the first avatar ever existed, Agni created two dragons. They were idolised as gods, and at first they were comfortable with such ostentosity. However, as time went by…)_

He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. He had just realised Johnny had purposely lead him to this place, so he could know nothing about when he escaped. Oh, he should have seen this coming, how—

_(the first Fire Lord decided they should be separated. As Agni had stipulated they should follow the orders of his representant in the earth, they did as they were told, no matter how much it hurt them.)_

And he was affronted with what to do now. Should he actually continue learning to airbend? Should he go and look out for Johnny himself and bring him back home? He liked the Air Temple Island, and if the Eastern Air Temple was just as pacific and full of old scrolls as this one was, then he would love it too for sure. Also, learning to control his powers meant he could help people—like Johnny said was his child-dream.

_(They had been so heartbroken at this. It wasn’t until the female dragon had turned sick the Fire Lord actually let her be with her beloved. The lovers had been reunited, and were happy for some time. That is until the female dragon died.)_

He found himself thinking about how much he’d like to drown his sorrows in beer. How he’d like to have been a normal teenager, to lose tight, to have a first girlfriend, to not see spirits, to have earthbending, not to be a genius, not to be in love with Johnny.

He started sobbing. His hiccups soon turned into heartful cries.

_(Grief-stricken, the dragon threw the eggs to the nearest volcano—the last remnant of his former lover—and let them drown. Taking pity into the male dragon, Agni decided to help the eggs survive the lava inside the volcano, and rescued them before they could be consumed by the fire.)_

Why had he tried to deny it for so long? Why—no, he never denied it. He just didn’t acknowledge it before. As though the feeling never actually was part of him, and they were just two best friends.

_(Thanks to the lava in their lungs, as they were born the dragon cubs were capable of breathing fire. The male dragon died before the cubs could be capable of hunt, so Agni himself ended taking care of them.)_

_‘Shouldn’t we like—I don’t know man, swear eternal friendship or something?’_

He had already made up his mind. He would talk to Tenzin, and he would let him know his decision.

* * *

He had given the translation to Jinora, who seemed more eager to learn about “The origin of the dragon lovers” than both her siblings… or any airbender for that matter. He asked Tenzin if he could talk with him in private.

“Does this have something to do with the disappearance of your friend?”

Peter nodded, morose. “Yes. I—I have made up my mind.” He tried to find the correct words to talk with him, but they all were struck in his throat. “I want to keep learning how to airbend. But—but he’s my best friend, and he’s more important that learning something I wasn’t even expecting.”

Tenzin nodded. “I understand. It pains me to have to say goodbye to a potential new airbender, but you have your whole life to learn it. If your friend is in true danger, then you don’t have that much time.” He handed him a glider. “I hope you know how to use this. It might help you to travel.”

Peter looked at the instrument in his hands, and bowed as deeply as he could. He never imagined he could possess one of those, but neither he had imagined he could airbend. This day was beyond his wildest expectations, but it still existed.

He would go looking for Johnny, takes what it takes.

* * *

The next day at exactly 5am, Peter was standing outside the Baxter Building, deciding whether or not it was a good idea to knock so early in the morning or if he should wait at a better hour and come again.

Just as he was about to leave the door opened, revealing a bed-haired Reed staring at him. Peter stood there, words stuck on his mouth as if they were half-eaten dumplings.

“How did you—?”

“I was getting ready to work on my lab and the alarms warned me of someone standing in the front.”

Peter had no idea how Reed's alarms actually worked, but he shrugged it off as Reed experimenting in his own house a developing new technology—hence why it was the first time he had heard of such concept.

He gaped, and evaded Reed's non-fazed gaze, which was becoming increasingly hard to ignore as he stood in his place, silent.

“Peter,” Reed said, slowly, as though he were talking to a child. “You know where the spare key is, there _is_ no need for you to wait for any of us to open.”

Peter had to wonder how many times Reed had to scold him about this exact topic to be as resigned as he was, the whole _I knew this would happen why did I think Peter having bending would change his lack of memory towards Baxter Building_ countenance written all over his face.

“Well… I was trying to think about it, and whether I should wake you guys or not. Sue seemed like she needed a rest the last time I saw her,” he wasn't lying, _per see_ , but there was a certain truth at what Reed was saying.

“Sue has been meditating for two hours now, there is no way you could have awoken her.” Unlike Peter, Reed wasn't trying to hide his thoughts through half-assed jokes or not-really-but-kind-of-self-embarrassment. His tone was bathed in resignation, hurt, worry and something he wasn't quite able to grasp on. He knew Reed for some years now, yeah, and they knew each other on a first name basis, but he didn't know him as good as, say, Sue did.

“I'll come in” he announced passing by the owner of the building and finally sitting in the couch nearer the entrance of the living room.

A seat away from him there was already Ben, who was apparently reading the newspaper, already up and ready for the day. Now he actually wondered if this really was 'early’ for them.

“I heard Sue asked you for help,” said Reed entering the living room, with two cups of steaming liquid—coffe for him, and Peter suspected there was hot chocolate.

“Yes, she did.” he confirmed, although unsure as to where Reed was going with all this. Reed handed him the mug with the chocolate, thoughtful.

“I honestly don't think she should have,” and that's the phrase Peter was sure he would say. _How he shouldn't do this because he was—not exactly a kid, but neither a man._ “I understand you're a very mature young man, but if Johnny has truly been abducted, there is no way you could help us,” to prove his point in a way, he bended earth and made a bench for him to sit, facing him. _How he would slow them and that this wasn't Republic City University_ “you're way too young. What can you do to help us?”

“I can airbe—”

“Since when?” Unable to form a coherent reply, Peter gaped at him. Reed just shook his head and stared sadly at his steaming coffee. “I understand Sue was scared for Johnny, and how her unconscious told her she should seek you out, but it was a mistake. Believe me when I tell you,” _it's for your own good_ “it's for your own good.”

Peter lowered his gaze. The words struck in his tongue and his vision blurring. He already knew all this. How he was partially useless in finding Johnny, how he should have thought this better, how he should have found a better way to help instead of actively seeking him.

“I have been training my whole life without bending. At first I thought it would be for nothing more than to help Johnny practice his katas,” Reed seemed surprised at this. Had Johnny never told his sister not his brother-in-law about this part of his life? “I have better control of the elements than I should have. Also, I know the spirits better than anyone else, and I can convince them to help me—help _us_ , find Johnny.”

Reed seemed like he wanted to add something. “Jus’ let the kid come with us, Reed. Not like you can change his mind at this point. You seem to forget how strong-willed people from the Earth Kingdom actually are,” there was a pause in which Ben changed the page of the newspaper. “You should be ashamed, Reed.”

The man rolled his eyes at this, obviously annoyed at this. He actually threw a glare at Ben, who just shrugged it off.

“This is not an excursion, Peter. That's what I was trying to say. This is not like that one time I led you all to the Northern Water Tribe. It's not like that one trip to Omashu. This is dangerous, because as far as my knowledge goes, Johnny could be anywhere from the Fire Nation to the Northern Water Tribe, doing anything but having fun.”

“I know, and I'm willing to go through with it.”

Reed passed a hand through his hair, almost reticent. He let aside his mug of coffee, no longer thirsty.

“Then let me go get Sue. Ben, you'll drive. We're going in ten.”

* * *

He wasn't used to not see Chi for long periods of time. The fire spirit no longer orbited around him, but Johnny did, and Chi always was with Johnny.

He was seated in the backseat, besides Sue, who had wanted to sit besides him. In his lap there was one of the scrolls he has actually wanted to bring with him (an old sketch of what the spirit world looked like), and he was translating to Sue as best as he was able to.

“Where did you get them?” She said amazed as she passed her hands through one of the scrolls. Peter was glad she was concentrating on something that wasn't Johnny, or else he would go mad with the reminder.

“Master Tenzin gave them to me. Said they would fit me better, and how I was actually the only living person capable of reading them.” He remembered how he never tried to teach Johnny how to read the oldest characters he knows, and how he didn't even try to tell him about it. They had known each other for far more than ten years, but did he really tell Johnny all about him? Or did he just tell him what he thought was important?

“Did you never truly wanted to enter the Spirit World?” Asked Ben from the copilot seat.

_'Oh! Have you tried to enter the spirit world?’_

He shook his head, his gaze lost somewhere in the map in front of him. “It's too dangerous. It was too dangerous. I have very little knowledge about the spirits and how they work. It's like trying to seize a room through a keyhole. I didn't have this information neither,” he pointed at the map, “so I was blindfolded as to what I could encounter in there. Be kind spirits, pranksters or those that deed wrongly. When I was young the few spirits I encountered strongly advised me against it, so I did.”

“Should have followed their advice on this kind of thing, too.” There could be heard Reed's mutter, he just rolled his eyes.

“This is different. I can seize things in this world. I can measure, I can calculate and I can plot. I am not a man of the world, but I know how to evolve in certain places. But… but the spirit world is another matter entirely, you know?”

  
Neither of them followed the conversation, thought it was obvious how they had wanted (especially Sue, what with how she was looking at him). 

* * *

Reed suggest they should camp. When night comes over to greet them, they still haven’t reached the nearest Earth Kingdom Town, and Peter, who has spent the whole morning and evening doing nothing but reading the various scrolls he took with him as well as translating certain notes for Sue to discuss with him, cannot help but agree with him.

“If we’re lucky, it will take us two or three days to reach East Yon-Qi.” Reed gave Peter a plate full of sweet pork rice. He couldn’t help but think about Uncle Ben and Aunt May and Johnny’s first day in Republic City. Wasn’t that the same food they had eaten in his house, anyway?

He frowned. Nowadays, everything reminded him of Johnny. And it’s not like he was trying to avoid the matter altogether (because he wasn’t), but rather he was getting more and more depressed. He tried to keep himself calm, though, if he were to lose his composure, who knows what would happen to Sue and her pregnancy? (He wasn’t the only one worried for Johnny, after all).

“Bum,” Peter said, and a big fluffy platypus-bear appeared at his side. “I think…” he stopped, like he was still mulling what he was about to say. It wasn’t something he asked lightly, and certainly were it not for the current situation he wouldn’t dream of it, but— “help me enter the Spirit World. It’s… it’s the only way.”

Yes, he knew it, deep inside himself. This had been something he had been compelled since long long ago. His whole life if one wanted to exaggerate. This was his destiny. And, what else was destiny, if not the road our lives took?

The platypus-bear at his side nodded, almost reluctant and positioned itself in a loto manner, as though it were meditating. Peter mimicked its actions, confused, but hear a soft _drift away_ come from its beak and nodded.

.

It wasn’t that hard for him to relax and take it away from any thoughts, or at least clear his mind from everything but one thought: Johnny. Eventually, he felt himself lighter and lighter, and before he knew it he breathed no more. He felt like something was wrong at first, but then relaxed and opened one of his eyes, realising that he had finally entered the spirit world. It kind of resemble a jungle, he mused, what with the big trees and weird plants he had never seen before.

He heard groans in his side and found Bum besides him. The animal in question was wagging its tail, trying to capture his attention. Once he began to walk. Peter decided there was no other way but to follow him—what else did he have to lose?

They walked besides each other for minutes in silence. Peter wasn’t feeling particularly talkative (he had a cumulus of emotions all deeply seeted inside his gut he had no idea whether to scream, or cry or hide or just do nothing at all) and Bum’s nature wasn’t of many words, so they walked alongside the roads of sorts, with no path designed, hoping to find any clue on Johnny’s whereabouts.

Peter noticed, not without surprise, how deserted this part of the Spirit World felt. Not that he wasn’t thankful for that, he would either stay and chat for hours, forgetting what his goal actually was (was he a horrible person for feeling excited at this with Johnny’s current situation?) or fall for something that humans shouldn’t fall for. He had heard stories from several from his father that he no longer remembered face nor voice. Stories about how the spirits had drawn humans into staying here, and how their bodies slowly rotted away.

Not that he had encountered such spirits, but one could find so many things in there.

It happens as quickly as it came. A flash of red crossed in front of him at impossible speed and he barely had time to recognise its features before he started following him.

“Chi! Chi, wait!” The fire-related spirit didn’t spare a second for his friend, it never stopped flying, if anything, it went faster and faster. Peter was glad he didn’t need to breathe or else he would have given up like a mile and a half ago in chasing Chi at this point.

It wasn’t until they had reached a supposedly risk in which the fire spirit stopped flying. Peter guessed it was because his intention wasn’t to get him killed (though, if he wasn’t mad at him, why was he running away from him?)

“Calm down, Chi, I just want to talk.”

  
If he saw a blond mane of hair, he was pretty sure it was a hallucination from the Spirit World.

* * *

Peter awoke from his travel to the Spirit World with a soft thud.

He breathed in before exclaiming “It’s not East Yon-Qi where Johnny is located”

Sue had been asleep barelly seconds ago, but upon hearing her lost brother’s name she was by his side now. Reed was trying to calibrate a GPS or something that could help them localize Johnny better. Ben knew when he wasn’t of help, so even though he wanted to listen to what Peter had to say in the matter he had to drive them too in the morning whenever they were, he went to sleep again.

Reed shook his head. “Peter, all the clues lead to East Yon-Qi. We only need to go there.”

“But Reed, the clues are false. Chi knows where Johnny is. He told me we were heading in the wrong direction—I think we need to go to Ba Sing Se.”

Sue steps in, suddenly more lucid. “Wait, Chi? The fire spirit you told me about? The one that followed him everywhere?”

“Are there other Chi’s out there?” Peter didn’t try to be sarcastic, but he didn’t know how to continue this. “Well, he said Johnny had been… wandering a little in the Spirit World, and that he was alive and _comfortable_ , but wouldn’t give me the details.” He pouted, arising from the floor with his airbending powers (Tenzin recommended he’d do this every once in a while, it’d give him better control on how to measure his powers) and started to pace around in their tent. “It’s almost like Johnny told him not to tell me anything.”

_Not like he does that anymore._

He shook those thoughts away. Chi chose to stay with Johnny, and even if it had been him who had taught him so many things about the Spirits and the Spirit World, he wasn’t his.

“Back to the topic,” he sighed. “Chi was vague as to the location too, said he wasn’t sure of the city, but said that the walls from Ba Sing Se were recognizable some acres away.”

.

When the sun rose they all kept on moving, this time with a more stable place in mind, rather than an off-chance Reed was taking with his localizator. It was actually easier to go to Ba Sing Se than the other town Reed thought Johnny was at, it was closer and the pathways were less rural.

Three days larer they had found themselves stopped at a city called Yung-Wo, in which Reed said he would be getting them food, Ben said he was going to sight-see the city a little. Sue had to rest (the baby should be safer this way) and Peter decided investigating this place was better than do nothing at all.

Just as he was walking down a hill, he stumbled and before he could touch the floor, someone stopped him from falling. He had actually wanted to thank whoever it was for thanking him, but a quiet thud against his neck stopped any kind of thoughts he might have had, and as soon as his lips opened he passed out.

* * *

He had to blink several times before his eyes adjusted to the light, and were able to focus on any concise figure at time.

“You can't just, knock him out like that. It's rude.” He heard a distinctly voice that left him feeling cold.

It was Johnny.

Almost immediately, he tried standing, but his head spinned and he stumbled. He noticed there was something stopping him from from hearing any more conversation, and as the figures in front of him became clearer he noticed Johnny wasn't how he thought he would be.

He thought he'd find Johnny caged, just like he was at this very moment, but he found him anything but. He was calmly sitting besides this one woman he didn't recognize.

Just like this was another field day. Like he was… he was…

Peter wanted to puke.

“No need to fuss, your little boyfriend is awake now.” As if on cue, Johnny's gaze fell on him. Peter tried standing, but apparently his cage wasn't to let him do that. He became desperate once he noticed it was this woman and not Johnny the one getting closer.

And she wasn't any woman, he realised as he noticed how instead of arms she was water-fashioned limbs.

“Like a scared bear-puppy,” he heard her mutter. She turned to Johnny “I still don’t know how long it will take Zaheer, but I better go looking for something else. You know what to do if he escapes.”

She walked away, but Peter was even more shocked. His already sensible stomach

Did she say _Zaheer_?

Johnny walked two steps ahead, and sighed dejectedly. “You should have stayed with the airbenders. It would have kept you safe.” He frowned, as though he didn't believe his own words. Then he shrugged, letting him know he didn't care either way.

“Johnny,” he said, softly, like walking through a spider's thread. “What's—what happened to you? We thought you were kidnapped?”

Johnny's head tilted a little, although he didn't sound surprised by Peter's astonishment.

“At first I was,” he admitted. “They had taken me away just after school ended, and kept me silent until they could find something useful for me. Apparently it wasn't common knowledge that I was a firebender, so it took them a day and a half.” He didn't sound fazed by this, and the nonplussed way his face remained calm shook the very core in Peter. Like something about this was not right.

Johnny was a feet of distance away from him. “By this point they told me their real purpose. And the more I pondered about it, the more I told myself _well, you've been thinking about these same things. They are right, this world needs to change_ and joined them.”

Peter couldn't help the sneer that escaped his lips. “Right? Johnny, she was talking about Zaheer. Zaheer as in, the one that attempted to kidnap and kill the avatar. He's dangerous.”

Johnny shook his head. “He might be, but he's right.”

“In what? Killing the avatar? Push his beliefs through other people's mouths?”

“No, Pete. He wants balance. To restore the spiritual and the human world. He wants what you've always wanted—to live in peace with the spirits.”

_Stockholm Syndrome._ Peter's mind screamed only two words. It must be that, there was no other explanation for Johnny's sudden change of heart. Peter had never wanted that—or he thought he had never given any indication of such desires. Yes, his captors must've been nice to him, told him how they could be doing worse to him, but they were nice and good people. They were the good people.

But still…

He saw the look in Johnny's eyes. It was the same one that had kept Dorrie worried, the one that, ever since it had appeared, Peter noticed not. The one that he should've asked for, that could have saved them all this problem, that at this very moment they could be chasing each other in the Air Temple Island, chasing rabbit-cats or hanging out with the girls, MJ would be telling them she had started on Pro-bending once again and they would celebrate and everything would be the perfect picture—

But he hadn't seen the haunted look in Johnny's eyes, and the consequences were showing now. This was his best friend, how had he never noticed before?

“This is not what I asked for. Johnny, if you go and ally yourself with them, they will imprison you.” Persuading Johnny was the only thing he could do at the moment. “The spirits and the human have lived so long alienated from one another they have forgotten how to interact. This is not a good plan, Johnny. This is… _please_. Listen to me, Johnny.”

His former friend (his _best_ friend) denied every word that escaped his lips. “It doesn't matter anymore, Peter. Things changed the moment Avatar Aang won the hundred-years war, the moment Avatar Korra left the portals open in the Harmonic Convergence. They are not the same as they used to be,” he rested his head against the Earth-bended bars, gloomy. “And they will never be. But we can—we can get… I always thought people didn't like you because they envied you. Then you mentioned I was the only person—the first person besides your family—to know about your secret. I just—I thought that, that now that the Harmonic Convergence happened… that you could be happy, let people know about this part of your life.”

Peter understood where Johnny was coming. He knew how he was feeling. “I understand,” he let out a sigh, “but this is not the way for you to get the point across. They are trying to kill the Avatar. They have been ever since she was a baby—a _baby_ , for godsake!”

Johnny shrugged. “The avatar separated Vaatu and Raava when he shouldn't have,” Peter hadn't actually known about the first avatar, he didn't even though people would know about it. “They must be reunited again.”

“But why? Why—why in such fashion? Johnny, she's just another human being, you said so yourself.”

Johnny frowned. “It's the better outcome.”

Peter couldn't help but airbend out of frustration. “Johnny, get a hold of yourself. Have you even thought about Sue or Dorrie or _me_ in this goodfornothing week? We've been worried for you! I was so fucking worried for you!” He couldn't stop the words. He had had them trapped inside him ever since Sue had told him how Johnny had disappeared and how she was truly worried for him and she needed help finding him. But did Johnny really care at all?

This was his best friend. His best friend who had united forces with someone he thought evil _just for him_. Just because he had thought it was what Peter had wanted. He shouldn't be doubting the sincerity of his heart. He shouldn't be doubting him.

But he was wrong. “Do you really hate the avatar that much?”

Johnny was about to answer. At the last minute, however, he actually pondered what he would say. “I have no opinion of the avatar as a human being, whatsoever, but I do think the world needs an equilibrium.”

“And the avatar can bring it so.” This was getting harder. Especially because Johnny's beliefs wouldn't quarrel, he couldn't put doubts in Johnny's arguments, he actually _believed_ those things.

His sight was getting blurrier. He couldn't cry, not at such moment.

“Johnny, you don't need to get involved in this. Just return to us—Sue, me… Dorrie.”

“Actually, I broke up with Dorrie.”

It was so Johnny to come up with the most unexpected and anti-cliffhanger answers. This stopped his eyes from watering, and he had to stifle a witty remark.

“That's besides the point.”

“No, it's not,” Johnny defended himself as he pouted, reminding Peter of how childish he was. “I hadn't felt like she—gosh, this is so hard,” he passed a hand through his hair, and exhaled. “I felt like she was second best for me… and she didn't deserve that.”

This… definitely didn't develop the way Peter had thought it would. He had picked his curiosity, but he shouldn't be discussing this. It wasn't the right moment, they had _a very serious_ conversation, not an everyday chit-chat. They weren't in Aunt May's living room, they were in the outskirts of Yung-Wo, Peter inside a cage fashioned from stone, and Johnny outside, as though he were his captor.

“Johnny, this is not you. Stop this nonsense.”

This wasn't what Johnny had expected from him, for the other retreated, stood and shrugged. “It's the—the only thing I could possibly do to help you.”

“And why do you keep saying that?! Why do you keep saying it's about me? That's not what I want. The fact that I am telling you this is enough. Let's just… please come home? We don't have to do this. _You don't have to do this_.” It sounded like a pathetic plea from a cry-baby. But this conversation was leading to nowhere and he was pretty sure he had repeated himself so many times now.

It should be enough, right?

It was enough to make Johnny doubt, at least. The other eyed him warily, and he had to force his gaze on the floor.

“Why are you against this? This is a revolution, the future.”

“I already told you, shoving your ideas in someone's mouth is not pleasant. It's not how people follow you. They must want it, sympathize with your idea.”

* * *

It had been useless try and convince Johnny to change his mind. It kind of reminded him of the koi fishes at the Northern Water Tribe.

Two or three hours later had seen Ming-Hua (that was her name, huh), P’li and another one (apparently Zaheer was in a super duper secret mission he wasn’t supposed to know about). Peter hadn’t actually cared, what were they supposed to do with him, either way? Keep him prisoner until they all killed the avatar?

He gazed at the ceiling in his so called cage. It was hard for him to adjust, still after three hours, to the idea of Johnny being in the other side of the coin. He’d thought they would be torturing him, trying to pry information about Reed’s future projects, or else. Not this. **Not this.**

And the worst part is that Johnny was convinced that this was how he wanted things to be.

He heard someone come closer to him, and he thought it would be P’li or Ming-Hua, but it turned out to be Johnny.

“I brought you food,” Peter gazed at the flooor, which was ten times more interesting than Johnny’s sorrowful countenance. “Also, I’ve been thinking about what you said.”

“What exactly?”

“I am going with you.”

Peter couldn’t help but gaze at him. Johnny raised a hand, in a fashion that told Peter _I’m not finished yet_. “I still believe their beliefs, that the Spirit World and the Human World should be united. But I… I really have no desire to kill the avatar, just thought it was a mean to justify the end.”

Peter looked at how his hands were fidgeting, and he found himself believing what Johnny was saying.

“So?”

“I’ll go with you, and Sue. And Reed and—hell! Even Ben.”

Peter let out a little laugh. “And we’ll all forget this ever happened.”

Johnny nodded. “Yes, it sounds like a good plan to me.”

**Author's Note:**

> I don't study Chinese, but since Japanese comes from Chinese in so many places, I actually liked the way the word _destiny_ works. It's made of two kanji characters: 命 (míng/life) and 運 (yún/luck, road, etc) so **命運** can be literally translated to "the road life takes" which is a very endearing way to refer to destiny, if you ask me.


End file.
